Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Short term profits, long term devastation

Aida Edemariam has written quite a long piece on some worrisome developments in my old neighborhood. Her article, Mud, Sweat and Tears, focuses on the nastier elements of Alberta's latest old boom in the Tar Sands, including the environmental aspects, the social costs and the lack of workers rights and protections that the government doesn't want to talk about.

My own view on the Oil Sands is that they aren't going anywhere and the price of oil isn't likely to go down so we should wait on exploiting them until we can do it in a more environmentally responsible way. It's conceivable that in 20 years we could get that oil out with far less ecological impact and make a lot more money to boot.

And if you really want to be unnerved, check out what's going on in the Canadian uranium mines, in Much Ado about A Lot. We now provide 29% of the world's uranium. Go team!